Market Research

To submit your story, first order of business is to find a place to send it.

Fortunately, that’s easier than it seems.

Inn the olden dayes*, when I first started submitting my English-language fiction, Internet was in place, but it wasn’t the Googlified heaven of information it is now. So when I had written my first English-language story on the urging of an American friend, I was pretty much stuck in this very place in this adventure. Until the same friend remembered to mention Writer’s Market**.

WM turned out to be an online searchable index of markets, by which term is meant any publication that might want to buy your stuff. These indexes, of which there are many, allow you to input length, genre, target audience, and sometimes even desired pay rate, and spit out a list of markets that may be a good place to send your story. Using WM, I found Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine, sent*** them my story, and much to my own lasting amazement and joy, they bought it immediately.

Later, I discovered that there are alternatives to Writer’s Market****, which has outdated information, is incomplete, and expensive. One such alternative is Duotrope. The other is The Grinder. Both are excellent.